Auril
Auril (aw-rill) is a fickle, vain, evil deity with a heart of ice who is venerated primarily out of fear. She remains untouched by any hint of true love, noble feeling, or honor. She enjoys toying with those who offend her, trapping them in snow storms and then driving them insane with tantalizing visions of warmth and the comforts of home before freezing them to death. Her beauty is cold and deadly, the flower of womanhood preserved forever in a slab of arctic ice—with sensibilities to match the ice. The church of Auril is very loosely and informally organized, and clergy members wander and are largely independent. They seek to make all folk fear their deity and her clergy (to cut down on the attacks they face) through the fury of the winter weather. They also generate personal wealth and influence by carrying out tasks that others cannot in the worst winter weather and by magically protecting those who pay or obey from the worst winter conditions. Clergy members make offerings to the deity of some of the wealth they amass by scattering it in fallen snow during a storm or throwing it through cracks in river ice or glacial crevasses during the winter. In the cold months, Auril expects each of her clerics to force or persuade someone to pray to her in the approved manner by beseeching Auril for mercy and praising her for the "cold cleansing" she brings. This prayer must last for the length of time it takes a piece of ice larger than the "supplicant's" hand to melt against his or her bared flesh. It must be done out of doors and preferably at night. During the winter, Aurilian clergy are also expected to slay at least one creature with cold. It must be done out of doors and preferably at night. This is often done so as to provide worshipers or potential worshipers of the deity with food or to slay a personal foe of the cleric or clergy. Clerics and druids of Auril pray for their spells at midnight or whenever the temperature drops to its lowest point during the day, lying out in the snow or the coldest stream available all night if possible. Midwinter Night is the most holy time of the year to clergy of Auril. it is a nightlong festival of ice-dancing that is intended for both enjoyment and recruitment. The Coming and the Last Storm are two enthusiastically celebrated rituals, howling ice storms called up by clergy working as a group to mark the onset or last gasp of winter. Joining the clergy requires undergoing a ritual known as the Embracing, during which one runs through a blizzard all night long dressed only in boots, a thin shift, and body paint depicting the symbols of Auril, without the protective mantle of any magic. Auril accepts those who do not freeze to death. Many clerics and druids multiclass as divine disciples, elemental archons, or rangers. DnD 3.5 comparison *In 3.5 (Player's Guide to Faerun), the Cold domain replaced the Water domain in Auril's selection, but both are displayed here as some may find one more fitting than the other. *The Fury domain is not canon in the Forgotten Realms, but has been included as Auril is one of the Gods of Fury. Category:Nature_deities